Thinking About Where My 961A Is on Tuesday March 1st...

One of the things that really surprises me at this juncture of the semester is that this class doesn't feel much different than an English 1A.  I'm not saying that all (or necessarily any) students are writing 1A level essay or reading texts with 1A level skill and alacrity.  But the class feels like an English 1A.  As we work on our second major essay, students are coming to class with what I see as 1A-level concerns, the types of things I expect and hope 1A students are struggling with at this point in the semester:

• Problematizing an idea
• Focusing a claim
• Learning to better plan/design/pre-write an essay that relies on outside sources and research.  (They're starting to realize freewriting a research-driven essay doesn't really work at all...)
• Elaborating upon and amplifying ideas through fuller analysis, explanation, and paragraph development

Of course, once I get these essays at the end of this week my optimism and perceptions may take a dive towards the dark side...